Why Education "Reform" Efforts Will NEVER Work

I found this gem on a discussion board, but it really says it all:

Teachers are evaluated, and the idea that they are not is false.

The idea that some objective system currently exists, or can possibly exist in the near future, to evaluate all teachers under a single system is pure fantasy. Most of what any teacher does is not measured, or measurable, at this time. Most curricula is not currently measured.

At this time, no reliable, and I stress that word reliable, mix of methodologies exists. If it does, it hasn't been scientifically measured yet and proven to be scientific.

Most teachers are on regular evaluation schedules. There is immense subjectivity to these evaluations. The evaluators are usually principals and vice-principals, who may or may not be expert at teaching certain content areas, or in teaching at all. My experience with a few bad principals tells me that the system is still very flawed. Schools, unlike most business operations, are like small de-centralized businesses with little oversight from the central office. This makes them like little kingdoms, subject to the whims of the leader. That is the greatest problem, and also a great argument for teachers' unions as protection from those whims.

Unless there is a massively ramped-up system for teacher evaluation utilizing both much more money and personnel, it will not happen in a responsible way. Testing right now consumes big chunks of instructional time.

And teachers rightly fear being held responsible for life circumstances of students over which they have no control, which greatly impact the student's readiness to learn in the classroom. The idea that simply improving teacher quality will overcome poverty and difficult live circumstances is the great farcical notion of the so-called reform movement.

That is it in a nutshell. The power principals have over teachers and staff is unique in the economy because NOBODY is watching the principals. That's why they screw up all the time, and then the taxpayers end up footing the bill bailing them out of a jam. I went through this with my last principal, who should not have ANY job in the district but she was reassigned while my life was destroyed by her laziness and incompetence. She is still making around 100k a year while I am completely impoverished.

The "unions" in general are ineffective in dealing with principals and often collude with them. Teachers HAVE to have outside attorneys on retainer in order to keep their jobs. I learned that the hard way.